Across 57 companies, 15% are “Narrative Underdogs”—capturing less than 40% of mentions in their own articles. Even when coverage seems to be about them, competitors often drive the conversation.
For decades, PR and communications teams have relied on share of voice, the percentage of articles that mention your brand compared to competitors. But that metric overlooks a critical question: within those articles, who’s actually shaping the narrative?
Measures: % of articles that mention your company vs. competitors
Example: 60 of 100 articles mention you → 60% share of voice
Limitation: Counts appearances, not prominence or frequency
Measures: % of total mentions you capture within those articles
Example: 300 mentions vs. competitors’ 600 → 33% share of mentions
The insight: Reveals who truly controls the conversation
Traditional tools can show how often you’re present, while Delve’s AI-driven analysis shows how much of the conversation you own.
Imagine two companies in the same competitive space, both tracked across 100 articles:
| Metric | Company A | Company B |
|---|---|---|
| Articles Mentioned | 60 | 40 |
| Mentions | 300 | 400 |
| Share of Voice | 60% | 40% |
| Share of Mentions | 42.9% | 57.1% |
At first glance, Company A seems to be winning with more coverage. But in reality, Company B shows up less often, but when it does, it commands far more of the conversation—57.1% of all mentions vs. 42.9% for Company A.
Data sourced from Delve–learn more.
Most monitoring tools rely on keyword matching, wherein they count appearances but fail to capture context. Delve’s AI-powered article analysis goes further, automatically identifying:
This produces a true share of mentions metric, showing real-time narrative control, not just volume.
We analyzed 57 companies across multiple market types and found they fall into four distinct categories based on their share of mentions:
| Category | Share of Mentions | % of Companies | Avg Sentiment | What It Means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Narrative Leaders
|
80-100% | 15% | 0.72 (Positive) | Complete narrative control. Competitors rarely intrude. |
|
Narrative Owners
|
60-80% | 35% | 0.68 (Positive) | Strong control with manageable competition. Competitors mentioned but don't dominate. |
|
Narrative Battlers
|
40-60% | 35% | 0.65 (Neutral) | Fighting for control. Competitors get nearly equal mention share. |
|
Narrative Underdogs
|
<40% | 15% | 0.52 (Negative) | Competitors dominate even in "your" articles. |
Key Insight: Companies with higher share of mentions also report stronger sentiment—averaging 0.72 vs. 0.52, a 38% gap.
Data sourced from Delve–learn more.
When we plot article count (x-axis) against share of mentions (y-axis), patterns emerge:
Data sourced from Delve–learn more.
Across markets, one pattern holds: the more differentiated your position, the stronger your narrative control.
Higher share of mentions aligns with more positive sentiment:
Articles where your company is mentioned 8–10 times are far more likely to include key messages, product details, and quotes. Articles where you're mentioned once or twice often just list you as an "also-ran" in a competitive landscape.
Readers remember and internalize information based on repetition and prominence. A passing mention doesn't create the same brand impact as being the central narrative.
The Problem: You're in a 50/50 fight for narrative control in your own articles.
The Fix
1. Sharpen differentiation messaging: Give journalists a clear reason to focus on you, not the category
2. Proactive storytelling: Don't wait for competitive roundup articles; pitch unique angles
3. Spokesperson strategy: Strong, quotable voices reduce "industry analyst" dependency
The Problem: Competitors dominate even in articles ostensibly about you, which requires urgent action.
The Fix:
1. Category creation: Stop competing in existing categories; create new ones
2. Exclusive access: Give journalists something competitors can't provide
3. Audit your competitive set: Are you tracking true competitors or adjacent players?
Traditional share of voice still matters, but it’s no longer sufficient. Ask yourself:
Delve's AI-powered analysis automatically tracks these metrics for every article in your coverage, giving you real-time visibility into not just how much coverage you're getting, but how much of that coverage you actually control.
Out of 57 companies analyzed:
Those with higher share of mentions consistently see stronger sentiment and brand outcomes.
If you're only tracking share of voice, you're missing half the story. And in today's competitive media landscape, that half might be the difference between winning and losing the narrative battle.
70% or higher indicates strong narrative control. 50-70% is acceptable but suggests room for improvement. Below 50% means competitors are getting equal or more attention in your own articles—a red flag.
Share of voice measures what percentage of articles mention your company compared to competitors (article-level). Share of mentions measures what percentage of total mentions you capture within those articles (mention-level). [1]
For example: You could appear in 60% of articles in a competitive set (60% share of voice) but only represent 40% of the total mentions across all those articles (40% share of mentions) because competitors are mentioned more frequently when they do appear.
Highly competitive or rapidly emerging markets face the toughest environment (average 48-55% share of mentions), while event-driven coverage and niche markets have the easiest time (95%+ and 69-73% respectively). The more crowded and comparative the market, the harder it is to maintain narrative control.
No. 95-100% share of mentions indicates you're the central focus and competitors are rarely mentioned—the ideal state. This is most common for event-specific coverage, product launches, and companies with strong category leadership.
Yes. Traditional media monitoring tools count article volume and keyword frequency but cannot distinguish between subject mentions and competitor intrusion within the same article. Delve's AI-powered analysis automatically identifies the subject entity and tracks all competitor mentions to calculate true share of mentions.
[1] Delve. Choosing the best sentiment analysis tool for PR success
